Bogus Coin Peddler Accused of Arranging a ‘Hit’ on Judge

A Long Island man convicted of running a “boiler room” earlier this year was charged Tuesday with attempting to arrange the murder of the judge and prosecutor who handled his case.

Authorities accused Joseph Romano, 49, as well as a business associate, of attempting to hire hit men to kill the judge and the prosecutor. In fact, the “hit men” were undercover police officers who recorded meetings with the men, authorities said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which handled the case, declined to name the judge or the prosecutor targeted. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph F. Bianco handled Mr. Romano’s earlier case. A phone call to his chambers in Brooklyn wasn’t immediately returned.

“Romano thought he was buying revenge,” said Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a an emailed statement. “Instead, he bought the full force of the law, along with a possible life sentence.”

In February, Mr. Romano was sentenced to 15 years in prison for running. . .

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